Everything in April 2004 issue

By Stephen J. Voros

Article

April 2004

I have recently returned from southern Africa as part of my work for the Dorothea Mission and am reflecting on a memorable trip that overwhelmed the senses. I was left with a vision of the immense problems of the region and yet the immense opportunities. Problems The problems run through every aspect of…

Missionary Spotlight – African dimensions

By Alan Levy

Article

April 2004

Hillcrest is a small but growing town in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, some twenty miles inland from Durban. Its Baptist church, pastored by Jonathan Holdt, has a morning congregation of about 80 people. On the wall above the church door you see these words as you leave: ‘You are now entering the mission field’.…

Missionary Spotlight – Blessing in Kwazulu Natal

By David Magowan

Article

April 2004

The two thieves were similar in many ways. Both were convicted robbers, perhaps even murderers; each was physically as close to Jesus as the other; both were witnesses to the suffering of Jesus; and both called on Jesus to save them.Initially, both thieves mocked and taunted Jesus (Matthew 27:44; Mark 15:32). One spoke abruptly…

Three crosses, two thieves, one Saviour

By G. S. Beck

Article

April 2004

God sent his Son into the world that he might 'put away sin by the sacrifice of himself', for 'Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures' (Hebrews 9:26; 1 Corinthians 15:3). This is what sets the death of Christ apart from all other deaths. Everyone born into this sad world is under…

The glories of Christ

Article

April 2004

He has written a number of best-sellers including The frog in the kettle, The second coming of the church, and more recently, The state of the church (2002).SBC LIFE, the journal of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, published an interview with Barna in its January edition. What follows is a shortened version of…

George Barna surveys the church

By Eryl Davies

Article

April 2004

Richard had a fear of getting caught up in a cult and being deceived. He was seeking God and 'truth' and there were lots of questions he wanted answered - but reliably and authoritatively. Surely, here was a 'church' which could help him.But he was also reassured by the word 'family'. Richard thought highly…

Concerning Cults

By Gerard Chrispin

Article

April 2004

Let’s call him ‘Rick’. We met him at a small midweek meeting in his prison. He listened attentively. It surprised me. This hard, scarred, tattooed skinhead, with a cocky cockney accent, did not strike me as one who would be serious about God. I don’t know why I reacted like that – for we…

Missionary Spotlight

By Ken Wimer

Article

April 2004

Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ is being touted by religious leaders and organisations as 'one of the greatest evangelistic tools in modern-day history'.There are, however, some things you won't learn from it, even though it claims to be a faithful rendering of the biblical accounts.It will not teach you the gospelThe…

What you won’t learn from ‘The Passion’

By Matt Gamston

Article

April 2004

Manila is a bustling mega-city of 14 million people. I have been here for seven months, working alongside Cubao Reformed Baptist Church. God is giving us many evangelistic opportunities each week, but we have seen few conversions from our work. This raises many questions. Here are two that I find challenging. Two questions …

Missionary Spotlight

Article

April 2004

The empty tomb of Jesus Christ declares that a time is fast approaching when every grave and cemetery will be emptied. Not only those who have died within living memory, but the whole human race, will be raised at the general resurrection of the dead, at Christ's Second Coming. Never again, after that climactic…

Comment

By Edward Donnelly

Article

April 2004

'Ask! What shall I give you?' said the Lord to young King Solomon (1 Kings 3:5) and David's son asked for 'an understanding heart' (v. 9). Not the highest gift, nor what his father would have requested (Psalm 27:4), but valuable - shrewdness, common sense, nous, the ability to read people and situations, practical…

Guest Column

By Michael Paton

Article

April 2004

As a young National Serviceman, I was disappointed to be posted to Aden (now Yemen) in 1956 – I wanted to visit Singapore and Malaysia instead. After all, no tourists ever went on holiday to this barren spot! But the Lord had reasons for sending me, because there I met Arabs for the…

The gospel in the Arab world

By Michael Haykin

Historical

April 2004

The book seeks to answer both the misguided zeal of James Davenport and the cold intellectualism of Charles Chauncy - aberrant positions that we looked at last month. But it is noteworthy that the longest section of the book is an answer to Davenport's position.Edwards regarded the misguided zeal of those like Davenport as…

The dungeon flamed with light

By Jonathan Bayes

Historical

April 2004

Needless to say, this did not go down well with other churches in the city! The three uniting congregations were an Independent Holiness Church, a charismatic House Church, and a Brethren Assembly. The new church was led by Bryn Jones.This event marked the emergence of 'Restorationism' as a separate strand within the charismatic movement,…

The charismatic movement – a short history

By Evangelical Press

Article

April 2004

Oxford scholar Peter Atkins accuses Christianity of propagating 'manifest nonsense that is totally incompatible with our scientific understanding of the world'. His colleague Richard Dawkins calls a God-centred worldview, 'ignominious, contemptible and retarded', and claims that religion 'is no longer a serious candidate in the field of explanation'.This is rousing stuff, and countless people…

Has science got rid of God

By Don Fortner

Article

April 2004

Many Protestant and Baptist religious leaders, as well as Roman Catholics, not only endorse the movie but even see it as an excellent means of evangelism and teaching. The fact that Billy Graham and James Dobson are among them ought to raise red flags for anyone who believes the biblical gospel. The media line…

Passion of Christ – the movie

By Edgar Andrews

Article

April 2004

Last month we saw that to 'preach Christ' faithfully we must preach him 'thoroughly'. That is the significance of the Greek word katangello, one of the three major terms translated 'preach' in our English New Testament.To preach nothing 'except Christ and him crucified' (1 Corinthians 2:2) might at first seem restrictive, but our text…